Steve Smith's Australian Team Behaved Like Spoilt Brats, Says Langer

Sydney: New coach Justin Langer says the Australian side were behaving like "spoilt brats" ahead of the Cape Town ball-tampering scandal and Steve Smith wasn't a strong enough leader to handle the situation.

Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were all suspended for their roles in the incident when sandpaper was used to rough up the ball during the third Test in South Africa in March.

"The whispers were there," Langer said of the team under former coach Darren Lehmann in a British Sky TV interview reported in Australian media Thursday.

"Once upon a time, the opposition didn't like us because we played really good, hard cricket -- we were very skilful and we won a lot of games.

"It's easy to dislike the opposition if they're good, but there have been too many whispers in the last 12 months or so about the abuse on the field, or dare I say, the side playing like spoilt brats."

He said that as a former player he "nearly died" when he heard about the scandal.

"So you've got to wonder why it gets to that point? But it has happened now and we have got to make sure we learn from it and get better from it because we can't shy away either."

The scandal was preceded by several other unseemly incidents in the South African series: a stairwell clash between Warner and Quinton de Kock, and Nathan Lyon dropping the ball on a prone AB de Villiers after he was run out.

Why is Warner so angry?

Asked about the difference between the aggressive side he once played in and Smith's team, Langer pointed the finger at the captaincy.